Project Management methodologies compared

About Pros Cons

PRINCE2 Invented by the UK government in 1985 for large Gives an overview of all projects Expensive to learn and to implement
IT projects (and look at them!)
Gives control of projects – they can’t Too complicated (just google it and see
Broadened out to all projects in 1995: PRINCE be started or progress to next stages for yourself)
‘2’ without sign off
Doesn’t tell you HOW to do anything e.g.
Very popular since then Forces management to engage with the how to estimate tasks. Not even how to
PM process use Gantt charts. Just certifies that there
In decline now is a plan, signed off by the board.
Great if you are doing one big project
Product extension called MSP and you a full time PM Too boring for normal staff to engage with
Has a multiple choice test at the end which is a I’ve never seen it work successfully
sort of qualification

APM Association of Project Management
Been around for 100 years, it’s the combined
experience of 1000s of real Project Managers
All their knowledge is in an ever increasing tome
called the PMBOK (Body of Knowledge)
Has a qualification called PMP (Project
Management Professional) which is well
respected
Very practical The PMBOK can be too complicated –
needs to be boiled down and just the good
Tells the PM everything they need to do bits used, (which is what my course does)
in the process of planning and
implementing a project Does require a list of all tasks, and
estimates of all tasks, at the start –
Allows you to forecast finish time and though risk planning recognises that some
cost at any point during your project
of these will change during the project.
Recognised in USA as well – they call it
PMI over there.

Agile / The latest trendy thing being pushed by
consultants
Scrum
Based on remaining flexible when there is
uncertainty in the project, e.g. software design
Contains terms like “Sprints”, “Burndown
charts”, and “Scrum masters”.
Acknowledges the risk involved in
creative processes.
Sounds fun and exciting.
Great if you’re not sure what you want
yet.
Not able to predict finish time or total
cost, unless these are fixed and the
deliverables are allowed to be completely
flexible.
So not really a plan at all, more a weekly
time management meeting. (Those are
good, but not enough!)
All the risk is with the customer